Log Horizon Loops
by Mivichi
Summary: Shiroe is taken by surprise by involuntary time travel, and it's doing weird things to his menu. Log Horizon enters the Infinite Loops.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: What are the loops?

An unknown catastrophe damaged Yggdrasil, the computer system and world-tree that supports the multiverse. While the gods - system administrators - attempt to fix the problem, many universes are set to have infinite time loops to keep them stabilized. As time progresses, more universes begin to loop. Sometimes, loops fuse universes together; sometimes, loops are variants rather than the canonical setting.

Within a universe, the loop always begins with a single looper, the Anchor, who always remembers past loops. Over time, others will begin to loop, though less consistently.

The Log Horizon loops follow the continuity of the MLP Loops by Saphroneth, which in turn were based on Innortal's loops. Log Horizon loops contributed by an author other than myself are credited next to the loop number.

* * *

1.1

* * *

Shirogane Kei of Japan, or Shiroe of Theldesia, tried to calm his racing mind as he systematically analyzed his surroundings. His body felt strangely weak and ill-fitting, a sensation that he only remembered having once before.

This situation could only be called the opposite of that one. Instead of finding himself in the world of _Elder Tales_, he found himself back in his apartment, sitting at his computer desk. His body, healthy enough for a non-athletic human, possessed none of the easy strength of a high-level Adventurer.

The website on the screen in front of him proclaimed, "Countdown to the release of _Homesteading the Noosphere_, the latest expansion of the hit MMORPG _Elder Tales_! Celebrating 20 years of adventure!"

The countdown showed hours remaining. It should have been zero. No, it should have been in the negatives.

Shiroe - he thought of himself by that name more than Rei, these days - knew of the time flow differences between Theldesia and Earth quite well. By Earth's reckoning, a Theldesian day lasted two hours; Earth observed 12 Theldesian days pass for every one of its own. As a gamer, Shiroe had regarded it as simply part of the game mechanics of _Elder Tales_.

In any case, Shiroe had spent enough time in Theldesia that he should not have returned to Earth on the same day and certainly not before he had left. Was it a hallucination, he wondered, or time travel, or was this just a dream?

A chat window popped up. Naotsugu asked if Shiroe would be online tonight for the update. As far as Shiroe could recall, Naotsugu had asked the same the first time. Chances were that, whatever was happening, Naotsugu was not included in the effects.

Shiroe pinched himself once, and then twice more for confirmation. "Ouch," he said as he shook out his hand. This almost certainly was not a dream.

Naotsugu was waiting for a reply. Shiroe pushed his glasses up. "I will be there," he typed on the keyboard with steady hands. They did not betray how loudly his heart beat in his ears.

* * *

The transportation had occurred just as the expansion occurred at midnight, as expected. One moment Shiroe had been watching the update's progress bar as it installed itself on the MMO's servers, the next he stood in the streets of Akiba in his Theldesian body - taller, more slender, and Half-Alv despite his rather human appearance.

Shiroe, turning his head to take in the strangely reassuring post-apocalyptic ruins of the city, took note that all of the other _Elder Tales_ players displayed signs of shock at the transition. They panicked, shouted, and wanted to know where they were. The reality was slow to sink in.

Having truly time traveled sounded more and more likely as time progressed. He did not particularly want to believe he had traveled through time, invalidating all his work, decreasing or removing his ties with others. He was not a naturally social person, and the need to reforge what he had before intimidated him. Nevertheless, he refused to give up.

Shiroe called up his status screen with a thought. The menu panel hovered in front of him, invisible to any bystanders. As long as someone had the proper amount of focus, manipulating the 'screen' did not require any movements.

Before he proceeded to the friends list, unexpected differences made him freeze and narrow his eyes. New tabs and text, some of which was unreadable, cluttered the menu screen.

He frantically but methodically paged through the tabs in an attempt to find the source of the alterations. The information on the character statistics tab made him flinch in surprise.

'Subclass: Looper (Anchor), Lv. 1'? That was nothing like the level 90 Scribe that Shiroe should have been. He had never even heard of the Looper subclass.

He took himself to the subclass menu. The information there was too much. Some of the abilities listed displayed glitched text formed from random symbols, but many were quite readable. His breath froze in his lungs.

'Live through repeated loops', 'retain memories from previous loops', 'access gains from previous loops'; Shiroe grasped what those could mean immediately. They made other abilities, like the 'access all subclass skill paths', barely catch his notice.

At the end of the list, and it was lengthy, he saw a special note. 'Permanent character status: Anchor. Upon loop reset, immediately placed in another loop.'

Gibberish made further explanations of the status unreadable. A quick check of the character info tab showed that whatever the status was, it did not give his stats a visible buff or debuff.

'_No matter,_' he thought as he forced himself to resume breathing; he did not want to faint in the street.

The abilities he could read were clear enough. If the world around Shiroe was as real as he thought it was, he had indeed time-traveled. Furthermore, the wording of his abilities list implied that it could happen again. He needed to find out why, if he could, and if anyone else had experienced what he had.

However, Shiroe knew what he would do with this second chance: what he had before, but better.

He switched over to the friends list and scrolled down. Naotsugu, Touya, Minori… Akatsuki. His friends needed him. The menu changes could wait.

* * *

1.2.a

* * *

As Shiroe found himself in his computer chair once again, he could only sigh. Uncontrolled time-traveling proved to be quite tedious.

He leaned back into his chair and swiveled it around once. Part of him wanted to give up. Maybe, for once, he would not log into _Elder Tales_ and would spend the loop relaxing on Earth. There were all sorts of things he could afford to try out thanks to the time loops. Vacationing somewhere tropical and learning how to scuba dive sounded enticing.

No, Shiroe finally decided, he would give Theldesia another try. He was afraid that he would have plenty of time for vacations later.

* * *

Once the transition occurred, Shiroe immediately brought up the status screen like usual. Thanks to the Looper subclass options, he could activate useful and mastered abilities from past loops right away.

He blinked. The menu had changed once again.

Portions that had been glitched and obscured by errors and nonsense text had been cleared up. Moreover, a new tab had been added - a help menu?

Without hesitation, Shiroe opened it. A title page and a table of contents unfolded in the air in front of him.

'_All About Looping_

_By Saraswati and Iris_

_Editor: Seshat'_

Shiroe was pretty certain that all of those names belonged to goddesses of different pantheons. Giving himself a mental shake and refocusing on the task at hand, he skimmed through the chapter list.

'_Chapter 1: Is Your Life Too Repetitive? Looping and You_

_Chapter 2: Help, My Part Has Changed! Loop Variants_

_Chapter 3: You Are Not Alone - World Tree for Dummies_

_Chapter 4: Luggage for Loopers! Making a Subspace Pocket_

_Chapter 5: Tenuous Grasp on Sanity? Useful Tips and Tricks_

_Chapter 6: All the 'Do Not's - How to Avoid Breaking the Universe_

_Conclusion: By Sun Wukong'_

Fighting a sudden headache, Shiroe rubbed his temples. He had a sinking feeling that he would need that vacation the next time around.

* * *

Saraswati checked that the updated patch had installed successfully. Two of her hands typed rapidly on her keyboard while a third manipulated the wireless mouse.

She thought to herself, 'Menu update, check. Text translation, done. Functionality, improved. Safety limits, active.' Everything had gone as planned.

Shortly after the loop's activation, which had started smoothly enough, an emergency in another loop had called her away and temporarily left the loop under the sole supervision of Iris, a reliable aide who specialized in transitions.

Realizing that the loop's coding wasn't up to par to dealing with the Earth-Theldesian transfer, Iris had immediately coded a patch that did the job. Unfortunately, her inexperience with managing loops had prevented her from noticing quite how enthusiastically Theldesia had incorporated the coding. Even Saraswati had needed a few loops to realize that the Anchor had an unusual amount of flexibility with applying changes to his Theldesian baseline.

Saraswati liked Iris too much to blame her for the patch's unexpected side effects; every loop had its quirks. Instead, Saraswati had seized the opportunity provided and incorporated a help file into a thoroughly debugged version of the patch. It would ensure that she did not have to worry about the Anchor or any Loopers getting 'the talk' later.

Her fourth hand brought a cup of chai tea to her lips as she watched Shiroe's actions on another monitor. Good, he had found the file as quickly as expected.

The unexpected chapter titles and presence of a conclusion registered in her mind.

Saraswati spit her tea across the keyboard. "That damn monkey!" she growled as she slammed her teacup down on her desk, only its inherent unbreakability preventing it from shattering.

'_When did that immature cretin of a trickster god get his paws on my file?!_'

* * *

1.2.b (Detective Ethan Redfield)

* * *

"_Chapter 6: All the 'Do Not's - How to Avoid Breaking the Universe,_" Shiroe muttered to himself, but loud enough that Naotsugu could hear him.

Naotsugu watched Shiroe with a discerning eye. Ever since the Apacalypse had happened, Shiroe had been...slightly different from how he expected. Sure, he was the intelligent man with glasses and nasty, beady eyes just as he imagined, but there was something about him, like he knew more about what was going on in this world than he should.

For example, he only ate one of the menu made sandwiches, and only one bite, then switched to eating fruits and vegetables almost immediately, the only things with taste. He seemed surprised that Nyanta was the player that saved Serara, but it was only an act he could tell. The most damning one though was he didn't contact Maria to get Serara's location when they arrived in Susukino. No, all he did was stare at his status screen, his eyes rolling from side to side and then down, like words were flitting across his screen at a high speed as he walked purposely towards Nyanta's house.

Even now, Shiroe was reading. The enchanter reached in front of him and tapped his menu screen, meaning he opened something new. The guardian was about to ask what he was reading when Shiroe blinked and tilted his head, mouth started opening. A single syllable word came out in confusion, "Eh?"

As Shiroe continued reading whatever, his eyes grew wider and wider, mouth drooping lower and lower until he finally shot up from his seat on the log and shouted, "EH!?"

Everyone looked to Shiroe, Akatsuki speaking first, "Everything alright, Milord?"

Shiroe looked around, blinked a couple times and rubbed the back of his head, "Uh, yeah," and then returned to his seat.

* * *

(Shiroe POV)

Shiroe sighed and opened his status menu again continuing where he left off just before getting on his griffon. Chapter 6 was not a particularly long chapter as it described a few simple actions that would cause his loop to collapse. It advised against such an option since he would be forced into a safe mode server...or worse the Eiken loop.

In Elder Tales, killing yourself wasn't an option to escape anyway, though the idea that some loopers tried to kill themselves once to escape these loops was mildly disturbing. Briefly, he contemplated if he would have so many loops that escape by suicide would seem a good option, then disregarded it. If the description of Eiken were true, he wouldn't want to end up there for any length of time. Furthermore, if his loop made him miserable, it was his duty to change the world and make it a better place.

It was at the end of the chapter that he came across an attachment, which was simply titled, '_Ways Loopers Have Collapsed Their Own Loops.'_

It was an encyclopedia to itself on what other loopers have done to either end the loops, entertain themselves or make their loops easier to handle. Shiroe decided to read the table of contents and then come back to it later, as the initial help guide would be more helpful in these early loops. He figured this Encyclopedia would make good reading later on in the loops. His eyes scanned the table of contents...and then widened, "Eh?"

_Chapter 1: Experiments_

_a. Experiments with the Sun_

_b. Experiments with High Explosives_

_c. Experiments with Gene Splicing_

And that's where he stopped reading for a second. Interest peaked, Shiroe tapped on experiments with the sun and slid to a random page, and started reading about an attempt by a looper to change the color of the sun to blue, "EH!?"

* * *

1.3

* * *

Shiroe - no, Kei while on Earth, he reminded himself firmly - laid back contentedly against the rock lining the hot springs of which he was the sole occupant.

A little vacation really was just what he needed.

* * *

1.4

* * *

In a world where the United States server updated with the expansion before the Japan one, Kei had logged into his secondary account, Roe2.

Awakened at the moment of the Catastrophe, Shiroe stared down at his slightly more feminine hands and then performed a quick check. He did not equal Maryelle in that regard, thank g-

Thanks for nothing! Now Shiroe could understand Akatsuki's feelings in the baseline. He needed to get that potion out of his inventory.

He froze in horror. "Shit." The potion would be in the Shiroe account's bag of holding. Roe2, his Half-Alv Summoner _female_ account, held much fewer rarities. Worse, his subspace pocket currently did not hold any spares.

The manual had warned about situations like this. He twitched, firmly deciding on his priority for the next loop, not that it helped now.

Shiroe tried to keep himself from thinking about what he knew about switching genders in Theldesia. Given enough time, he would stop feeling uncomfortable in his female body. His voice would change to match, even.

Desperately wishing for a distraction, he surveyed the area around him. It had a much lower density of Adventurers than Akiba. The zone around the town had a deserved reputation for its difficulty, making it more akin to Susukino.

On the plus side, being a Summoner with an Undine contract gave him sufficient access to fresh water. That was quite important here. Secret military bases generally lacked comfortable surroundings.

This desert town, Area 51, would not be an exception.

* * *

Shiroe remained oblivious to the horrified looks of some of his teammates; they had not known to mentally prepare themselves for the sight of a cute woman summoning scores of undead Skeletons and Phantoms.

Checking the parameters of his newest spell occupied Shiroe's full attention. Raid battles occasionally granted Phantasmal-class items or other class-specific benefits. Defeating the mutant alien boss had granted him a new contract: 'Servant Summon: UFO'.

He pushed his glasses up. That sounded like a fantastic way to travel.

* * *

1.5

* * *

When Shiroe had Awakened in Theldesia, it was moments after the Catastrophe. He searched for a quiet area in which to pick through his abilities and get in touch with his friends.

Keeping an eye on his surroundings, he paused at the sight of a building to his right. He couldn't remember any guilds in Akiba having a mansion that looked quite like that before. It looked a little like a refurbished school building, if the school had been built by a billionaire who liked pink.

Under a plum tree in the building's front yard stood a single person, a Ceremonial Tribe Summoner if Shiroe was any judge. The Adventurer was either a slightly androgynous girl or a slightly feminine boy; Shiroe honestly could not tell which. The person caught sight of him. "Excuse me!" they called, "I think I'm lost. Can you tell me where I am?"

"We're in Elder Tales, aren't we?" Shiroe replied gently as he approached the cast iron fence around the property. "Theldesia, you know? Everyone is lost right now."

The Summoner's brow furrowed cutely. (Shiroe sincerely hoped that she was, in fact, a girl; the other possibility was that looping into his Roe2 character had left its mark.) "What's Elder Tales, and where is Theldesia?"

That took Shiroe aback. He adjusted his glasses. "Are you a looper?" he asked. He got a blank look. "What's your opinion on time travel?" he tried again. "Done it frequently?

The Summoner stiffened, eyes wide. "How…? I don't even know you!"

Then, a blonde-haired teen burst out of the mansion. "Haruhiiii," the Bard wailed, latching onto the Summoner shamelessly, "we traveled into a weird place this time and I can't find Kyouya! What are we going to dooooo?"

The Summoner facepalmed. "Dang it, Tamaki," she sighed as the Bard dissolved into theatrical sobbing. Then she pulled him up and quieted him down by kissing his cheek and putting a hand over his mouth. "Calm down," she said firmly before looking to Shiroe.

"Explain what is going on, please."

Shiroe smiled crookedly. "It's complicated. Luckily, we have a manual."

* * *

Later, long after Shirou had gone to help out a friend, Haruhi looked through her abilities list while Tamaki sprawled across the floor, sleeping.

The room they were in looked like something out of a harem from an Arabian fairytale, filled with lush pillows, beautiful Persian rugs, and colorful silken gauze, but Haruhi had long become inured to lavish decorations. She had spent far too many loops in a high school club run by ridiculously rich boys that specialized in appealing to the wallets of equally rich girls.

According to the loop memories, which she had not thought to check until Shiroe reminded her, the 'Ouran Hosts' guild did something similar in Elder Tales. The guild was crewed with people of both genders from the Ouran Academy loops, and Tamaki was the leader. Both he and Kyouya, whom Haruhi suspected of being in the process of taking over another city, were Awake this loop.

Haruhi blushed at reading the description of one of her home loop abilities. She murmured faintly, "That's really an attribute?"

She flopped back on the cushion behind her. "Of all the things… I mean, really? 'Harem Magnet'?"

* * *

1.6 (Detective Ethan Redfield)

* * *

Shiroe blinked as he awoke, standing in what appeared to be a passenger car on a train. His usual equipment was replaced with a set of long black robes and what appeared to be a school outfit. He gazed into space for several seconds, attempting to mentally call up his status screen, when the door sliding open ended his concentration. Before him stood an 11 year old boy with brown hair, old glasses and a black scar on his forehead. Shiroe raised his hand in greeting. The boy gave him a raised eyebrow, "Are you a looper?"

Shiroe blinked, "Uh, yeah."

The boy sighed, "Damn...did you cause it?"

Shiroe raised his glasses as a gleam crossed them, "I'm not sure what you mean. Last I remember, I was storing a manuscript in my subspace pocket shortly before the loop was set to end. And then I was here, standing here alone."

The boy crossed his arms and sighed, "Then it probably wasn't you. We better find the one responsible. I'm Harry by the way, Harry Potter."

Shiroe offered his hand to shake, "My name's Kei Shirogane, but most people call me Shiroe. What did you mean earlier by 'did you cause it?'"

Harry took it and the two walked down the train, "Right, new to the Hogwarts loops. Usually when another looper ends up here, someone destroyed their own universe. Yggdrasil doesn't like when that happens, and their loop unravels. Because most admins don't want to send their loopers to Eiken, they send them here if possible."

The two passed by Fred and George Weasley, who were discussing new ideas for their future joke shop. Harry continued after they left the twin's car, "So, how many loops have you done?"

Shiroe tapped his chin. "A few hundred. Yourself?"

Harry shrugged, "Lost track eons ago. I'm one of the original seven loopers, along with Ranma, Naruto, Ichigo, Shinji, Usagi, and Lina."

The two continued talking until they came to the final car, where a navy haired girl with pink and purple highlights had her face buried in her hands, while another girl with silver hair looked at the two boys with mild interest. Harry seemed to recognize them, "Hey Twilight. I assume it was Trixie?"

Twilight nodded. Harry rubbed his forehead and exited, intent on looking to see if other loopers were present and who had been replaced, hopefully not Anko. Trixie followed after him, deciding it was better to give Twilight some room. Twilight removed her hands and looked up, only now noticing the enchanter looper, "Ah, I'm sorry, my name is Twilight Sparkle, I'm from the Equestria loops."

Shiroe gave a small grin, "Shiroe from the Elder Tale Loops. I run a guild called Log Horizon."

He paused for a second as his eyes lit up, "Say, do you know a girl by the name Pinkie?"

Twilight's gloomy attitude faded immediately, excitement taking over, "You know her? She hasn't been awake for the last dozen or so loops! How is she?"

Shiroe took a step back, "Uh, yeah. She replaced Kanami, one of our Tea Party members, and spent much of the loops randomly using the Fairy Rings to travel all over the world to start a worldwide party...at least before she ended up in Japan and restarted the Debauchery Tea Party."

The boy shook his head and chuckled to himself. Noticing Twilight's hesitant expression, Shiroe answered the unasked question, "It's just a name, a hangout where 27 adventurers hung out and completed high level raids on various dungeons and other quests."

He sat down next to her, "Tell me about Equestria. Pinkie's explanation was so long winded I didn't catch any of it in the end...besides that you were ponies."

The two continued chatting for quite awhile as the train moved ever closer to Hogwarts.

* * *

1.7

* * *

"Wow, you're really a time-looping time-traveler from Earth, Kay-kun?" Kanami asked cheerfully as she walked backwards in front of him, the wind tugging playfully at her black, braided hair.

This loop, Shiroe had replaced the high-level Lander - or 'Ancient' - character called Elias Hackblade, the 'true hero' in the mythos of _Elder Tales_. Now a Blademancer by class and named Kay Whiteblade, he found himself traveling overland from England to Japan in the company of Kanami, a level 90 Monk.

Kanami had organized and lead the Debauchery Tea Party. Shiroe had been part of it, long before the Catastrophe, in his baseline. With her cheerful personality and childlike curiosity, she had only ever cared about making _Elder Tales_ fun. Shiroe cared for her deeply enough that he had trouble categorizing it beyond 'respect'. The Debauchery Tea Party had dissolved after Kanami had moved to another country in real life.

He shook off his melancholy and nodded in response to Kanami's question. "That's right," he agreed. Shiroe had Awakened in the middle of Kanami saving Kay from an immensely strong monster. Kay would have died without Kanami's intervention.

Kanami excelled at interventions, Shiroe thought.

The monster lacked the power to withstand a Looper, of course. Able to circumvent the Ancient limitation, Shiroe had promptly dispatching the monster with a cross-class attack combination. Enchanter spells, Kannagi barriers, and Assassin attacks had combined wonderfully with Kay's Fairy Arts.

Explaining afterwards had come naturally. He knew their companionship would last for only this loop; nevertheless, it eased something inside him to be open with her. He had guessed she would take it in stride, and she had, quite easily.

Twirling around once, Kanami laughed with pure delight. "Wow, you must have seen so much!" she exclaimed with a sincere eagerness. "Do you do explore much? What sort of things have you seen?"

Shiroe thought back to past loops. "There was an amusing incident one time when I was a Kannagi and training my Alchemist abilities. I happened to need rare ingredients," he began the story.

As he spoke, they continued walking together towards Ville Fleurie - Paris, France. Shiroe could only wonder what type of adventure would find Kanami next. He looked forward to every second of it.

* * *

1.8

* * *

Shiroe adjusted his glasses as he stared at the contents on the floor of his office. Placing one hand on a stack of papers and dragonhide leather, both from his subspace pocket, he used a Scribe skill: Publisher. When he lifted his hand away, there were thirteen high-quality hardcover books left behind.

He traced his fingers over the front cover of the book on the top of the stack. The title proclaimed, '_The Fairy Rings of Theldesia, Volume 1: Yamato Region_.' No author was listed.

Opening the book, he checked to make sure that it had been created properly from the pages that he had printed back on Earth. For every entry, one page displayed a map chart of Theldesia taken straight from an _Elder Tales_ screencap. On the next page, information about the location was listed. Each of the next twelve pages showed four moon phases and listed the destination for every hour of the day. The destination names were paired with the appropriate volume and page number for reference.

In short, he had crafted an encyclopedia-sized Ring travel guide.

Everything appeared to have gone well. Satisfied, Shiroe withdrew more stacks of paper and leather and many sets of ink bottles from his pocket. Applying another Scribe skill, Copy, left him with with enough copies of the original set to fill a large bookcase. He smiled as he stuffed them all into his subspace pocket.

Traveling with Kanami had galvanized Shiroe. Traveling across continents, it was impossible to not appreciate the vastness of Theldesia. Distances being half what they would have been on Earth meant that the world itself had a mere quarter of the surface area of Earth, but that meant nothing when so much of the world was a mob-peppered wilderness and lacked modern forms of transportation.

Travel distances had always limited his actions. Early on in the Theldesia timeline, his most reliable transportation was his gryphon mount. Its average speed never surpassed 40 kilometers per hour, and high-level mobs prevented it from bypassing certain areas.

The Fairy Rings circumvented many of those issues. However, hard-to-find or hard-to-reach locations, potentially dangerous destinations, and constantly shifting destinations meant that remembering what went where and when an extraordinarily difficult task.

Now Shiroe had mitigated that issue. Moreover, as the books appeared to be proper _Elder Tales_ item, no one would suspect something strange if he pulled out a book to reference it.

Shiroe stretched languidly. The entire world of Theldesia was finally open to him. It was truly a shame that his attempts to magic up fixes to the dormant inter-city transport gates had all ended rather… catastrophically.

Really, how was he to have expected that the failed spell's backlash would result in the all of the city's clothing being forcibly unequipped? That was one loop he was glad Akatsuki couldn't remember.

* * *

Notes:  
1.1: And many a looper new to the LH loop will jealously exclaim, "It has a menu!"  
1.2.a: "And a ****ing manual?"  
1.2.b: Looper lesson #3: With great power comes great explosions.  
1.3: Log out; opt out.  
1.4: It's great to have minions.  
1.5: Ouran High School Host Club: Where looping might make the canon timeline make sense.  
1.6: Slytherin or Ravenclaw? Or Hufflepuff?  
1.7: This is not a ship. (If Kanami had one, she'd be Luffy.)  
1.8: It was still a better result than another try which ended in random body-swapping.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Sometimes, the different contributors will use different terms for the same thing (like _Novasphere Pioneers_ instead of _Homesteading the Noosphere_) or different spelling variations for the same names (Rundelhous or Rundelhaus; Theldesia or Serdesea).

Thanks to all the different translations, I can't say there is only one correct name unless the source is definite (Krusty is named after the Simpsons' character; Hamelin is a reference to the Pied Piper of Hamelin). If the differences in terms used is too confusing or jarring, let me know; I can start editing everything to a single standard.

* * *

2.1 (Detective Ethan Redfield)

* * *

It was uncommon that Shiroe would awaken prior to the release date of _Novasphere Pioneers_ expansion. Once, he awoke just as he was buying the game. During that loop, he organized a ban on _Elder Tales_ and started rumors about how easily it was to hack another person's account and steal their personal information. Unfortunately, the campaign succeeded. The moment _Elder Tales_' servers shut down, he found himself in Eiken.

Shiroe had learned his lesson and now he found himself once again at the corner game store, buying a copy of _Elder Tales_. This time, he would do something different.

* * *

The last thing she remembered, Shiroe had convinced Rundelhaus Code to join his guild, Log Horizon, and had been returning to their strategic command at Midraunt Equestrian Park. Moments later, she opened her eyes to Akihabara on the Day of the Apocalypse, male once again, with strange changes to her status screen.

Eventually, she met up with Shiroe again, but he was different this time around. The tactician held two rapiers on either of his hips, one made of Adamantine that appeared forged in dragon fire. The other was windforged by the Fae creatures and bestowed with the ability to bind its prey. His species was even changed to the Wolf Hair Tribe. Hopefully, he had one hell of an explanation.

* * *

2.2.a (Detective Ethan Redfield)

* * *

Akatsuki looked at the orange-colored appearance-changing potion with disdain. Shiroe couldn't blame her. "Have you tried mixing in a painkiller potion?"

The girl nodded. "I don't have a high enough Alchemy subclass."

Shiroe sighed. Having used that potion a couple times himself when looping as villains, the effects make you feel like all your bones are breaking at once. Shiroe had some minor skill in Alchemy after studying under Snape, but only enough to make him level 30. Finding a painless version of that potion was another project to work on in addition to his _Elder Tales_ Encyclopedia. He'd be busy for quite a few loops, it seemed.

* * *

2.2.b (Detective Ethan Redfield)

* * *

"Akatsuki?"

"Yes, Milord?"

"Would you mind trying this?"

The female ninja took a look at the potion, then downed it in a single gulp. Her body grew numb and her bones crunched for a few minutes; then the numbness faded. She looked to Shiroe, who had a rueful expression. "Back to the drawing board."

The ninja looked to the mirror and paled, "Shiroe, why am I a Fox Tail?"

* * *

"Akatsuki, would you mind trying this?"

The ninja took the potion and gave it a dubious look. A few minutes later after drinking the potion, her eyes twitched in irritation at Shiroe, who had gone pale in terror. The male ninja drew his tanto and lunged at Shiroe.

* * *

"Akatsuki-"

"Yes, yes. give me the potion already. You can't do worse than making me a man again," she grunted in frustration. This time, her bones did not crunch, but rather her body gave off light until she was a bright as the sun. Moments later, the light faded and her eyes opened. Shiroe's mouth was gaping… Not a good sign. She turned to the mirror, and squeaked. A navy blue Pegasus with purple eyes looked back with a bewildered expression. Shiroe pulled out a notebook, "So adding unicorn horn and a some horse tail will-"

A hoof slammed into his face, sending him flying across the room.

* * *

2.3

* * *

Amidst a forest of trees that reached for the clouds, Akatsuki darted through the air. One Gust Step took her through a patch of sunlight that had filtered through the canopy. Still in midair, she waited the precious moment it took for the skill to recharge, then adapted her stance to activate the skill again. Pushing against the wide trunk of another tree, she kicked off into the air.

A few days' travel by horseback away from any Adventurer city, she was the only human around for kilometers. The small Lander town where she spent her nights did not have anyone high-leveled enough to survive long off the road. In _Elder Tales_, it would have been a staging point for quests. She was filling what requests of theirs she could anyways. It was only polite, and it did not inconvenience her.

Back in Akiba, she had told Shiroe, "I plan to go out to the mountains to train alone, my lord. I may be gone for the rest of the loop."

"Planning to sit under waterfalls and fight bears?" he had joked. More seriously, he had added, "Please keep in touch, Akatsuki-san. If you need me, I will go to you."

It had left her feeling simultaneously warm and ashamed: warm that he cared, ashamed that she might not be strong enough to survive on her own.

It was not a rational feeling. Even at level 90 or beyond, some monsters required at least a party of six to defeat; the most difficult required a full raid, 16 parties. A level 90 Adventurer could not expect to come away alive from soloing a level 90 party boss.

A Looper, however, could surpass all limits. This could not be done while playing as a normal Adventurer; EXP gain stopped at level 100, the Adventurer's level cap. But a Looper could break that by applying "experience" from previous loops.

Neither Shiroe nor Akatsuki preferred to live that way. Others could see one's level on their status screen. A high level only meant questions and suspicion from Landers and other Adventurers both. Besides, though the experience was justly earned, using it felt like exploiting a glitch in a game.

Akatsuki was training in the mountains, still at level 90, because she was searching for a different sort of strength.

Even deep in thought, her body continued to move. She automatically calculated the best route and worked towards her goal. No monsters had appeared yet. She jumped to another branch as her mind worked on other issues.

From what Akatsuki had learned of loops, the Theldesia loop had unusual quirks. Not only were two worlds involved in the loop, but the loop had an unstable length. While it frequently began on the eve of the Catastrophe, sometimes it instead started right after the transition instead. Sometimes it began much earlier than that, months or years in advance.

Compared to that, the endings had much more predictability. The most common ending dates, according to Shiroe, were just after the invasion of the Sand Leaf Peninsula was repelled or just after the Libra Festival. Living one baseline-variety loop to the latter end had led Akatsuki to her current state.

Akatsuki stopped to rest on one branch, checking her surroundings more thoroughly with her enhanced Tracker senses. The bark beneath her hands felt rough and chilled compared to her blood-warmed body.

She pushed off. There was still time before she reached her destination.

Akatsuki called Shiroe her lord and swore to serve him, but she honestly felt that even the baseline Minori did a better job of it simply by helping Shiroe with paperwork. Akatsuki had no skill at that or at planning as Shiroe did. Even following his orders dutifully, she often did not understand his requests until after he reached his goal.

She called herself a ninja, but her combat ability could not be called top tier. Her equipment and skills also lacked the edge that others had, as she had never participated in any raid and earned the rare drops they gave. In truth, she was quite average in terms of equipment and her skills' levels because of that.

Akatsuki could not do much about those at the moment. Either she would save up on her own for better Production-class equipment, or she would do raids in a loop with an early enough start date. However, she could work on something important that could not be done in the game.

As she used Gust Step again and again, part of her concentration focused on the feel of the mana in her body. Not being from a magical class, the effort involved was not inconsiderable. Trying to focus on the minute changes was like trying to see grains of sand through a foggy glass.

She refused to give up.

Before the end of the loop, Akatsuki vowed to learn at least one Overskill and ideally several. Like Shiroe's use of a contract to change a Lander into an Adventurer, Akatsuki would develop her own unique skills.

She heard the sounds of large, noisy animals. They were still at a distance. She used Gust Step again, thinking back to something Shiroe had told her.

He had said, "It's easy for some of the races to forget that we aren't Earth humans anymore. Our stats can easily take us beyond that of a Terran. Then, we have skills that take us even further than our stats.

"But how much further can we improve if we try? If we really learn to use the power in our bodies, physical and magical, instead of relying upon the skills of our race and class?" He had scratched at his cheek sheepishly. "It's something to think about, though . Why, are you interested?"

Why wouldn't she be interested? Akatsuki wanted Shiroe to be able to depend on her.

Most Adventurers created an Overskill through combining combat and sometimes non-combat skills in new ways, reinforced with real-world fighting skills or occasionally near-instinctive mana manipulation. Akatsuki had first thought that Overskills were all about expertise. That wasn't completely wrong.

But, more than that, Overskills were about being boring, about using the basics in ways that were obvious to anyone that saw beyond the cage of game logic. Low-level Adventurers invented new Overskills all of the time, as when Rundelhous controlled the strength of his fireballs. Only a high-level player had the conceit to call such an action an Overskill.

Relying solely on herself in an area full of level 80 and above enemies, Akatsuki had no choice but to throw her familiar habits away. If she did not learn, did not adapt, it would only be a matter of time before she awoke back in the cathedral.

Akatsuki looked down. She had reached her destination. A swift mountain river rushed through the trees. Mobs called Larcenous Chitters, black squirrel-like creatures wearing belts, bags, and swords, darted through the branches between her and the ground. There had to be over two dozen of the meter-long - not including the luxurious tail - tree rodents, and all were level 85.

The battle ahead would depend on speed. She drew her kodachi and unleashed an Accel Fang on the closet Chitter.

The link between her mana and her movements became a little clearer with every battle.

For Shiroe and for herself, she would win.

* * *

2.4

* * *

"Are you sure leaving Naotsugu in Akiba was a good idea, my lord?" Akatsuki asked from behind Shirou as their gryphon beat its wings through the sky. Shiroe had given her a gryphon flute from a previous loop, but she had not wanted to ride separately.

Shiroe threw a reassuring look over his shoulder. "Almost certainly. He's done well helping Maryelle before. If he follows my instructions and keeps in contact, the situation in Akiba will improve and stabilize."

Akatsuki looked at him like a specimen under a microscope. It made him sweat. "You have neglected important details," she concluded. "My lord, you do not plan to return to Akiba this loop, do you?"

Shiroe winced slightly. He knew he should have said that earlier. She could read him well despite all of the loops he had lived without her. He admitted, "Not for quite some time."

Because she trusted him, Akatsuki asked no further questions. "Understood, my lord."

Shiroe stayed quiet for a few minutes. "...Akatsuki?"

"Yes, my lord?"

"Could you just call me 'Shiroe'?"

Akatsuki's face went blank.

Hastily, Shiroe clarified, "At least when it's just the two of us? You have a very long life ahead of you now, and I don't want you to see yourself as indebted to me for its entirety. I need a friend more than I need a follower."

Her cheeks burned red.

What had he said to make her mad? "Sorry, you can call me whatever you want."

Akatsuki buried her face in Shiroe's back. Her shoulders were shaking. Shiroe worried until he realized that she was trying to hold in laughter.

After she regained enough control to sit up straight again, she met his eyes with a soft smile. "If that is how you feel, I do not mind using 'Shiroe'."

Shiroe, finding himself suddenly unable to speak, nodded and turned away. If his face appeared slightly flushed, it could be blamed on the wind.

* * *

If one had the money to buy the guild center, the cathedral, and the markets, making a criminal organization come in line could be extraordinarily easy.

As Shiroe had explained to Demikas earlier, "It's pretty simple. If you don't clean up your act, living here will be made thoroughly unpleasant. If you continue to misbehave, you get banned from the cathedral. Do you want to test what that does to your ability to resurrect?"

Within a day of their arrival, Shiroe and Akatsuki had become the de facto rulers of Susukino. Nyanta and Serara had been sent back to Akiba through a Fairy Ring route that Shiroe had plotted out for them.

Back in Akiba, Naotsugu and the Crescent Moon Alliance had organized the guilds into the Round Table Council and were already working out plans for mob population control, outreach to the Landers, and new experiments with crafting.

All Shiroe had to concentrate on was reforming the thick-headed PK guild of Brigandia. They had the potential to be good people, really; they had just let the lack of apparent consequences send them on a power trip.

At present, Demikas was staring at Shiroe like he had just grown another head. "You… What? Landers? You want me to go protect their village?"

Shiroe leaned back, casually signaling Akatsuki to take the lead of the conversation. Dealing with petite women who could kick his ass threw Demikas off balance.

In a quiet tone that still sounded extraordinarily threatening, Akatsuki said, "As you are entirely too deep in denial to admit that the Landers are as alive as we are, perhaps you should think of it as a quest with tangible rewards. The Landers will supply us with what we need if we keep the mobs away from them. If you lose the supply line or hurt the Landers, my lord Shiroe will be very unhappy with you.

"If Shiroe is unhappy with you," Akatsuki continued with absolute politeness, "I will regretfully ensure that you empathize."

Shiroe used that opening to re-enter the conversation. "I am sure we won't have that problem, Akatsuki. After all, aren't you going to travel with them to be on hand if they need help?"

Akatsuki nodded. "That is so." Her smile was, perhaps, less than comforting.

* * *

2.5

* * *

Akatsuki stabbed the wild boar and stared at the result with a bemused scrunch of her brows.

"What? This is no longer a game. So why did it do that?" Akatsuki exclaimed, pointing at the dissipating puff of smoke that had replaced the animal. Items and gold fell to the ground where it had been, and then a menu notification popped up informing her what she had earned. When she touched it, the items and gold disappeared; they had been automatically placed in her inventory.

Shiroe sighed. "I thought so. It's one of _those_ loops," he replied while checking something in his own menu. "This is a variant that happens occasionally. While the world is still real, some parts are treated more like a game. You might have noticed you don't actually need to wear your Magical Bag of Holding; the inventory system's mechanics work more like that of the subspace pocket. Also, the drops are granted almost exactly like they were in the MMO."

Akatsuki contemplatively rested her chin on a fist. "That sounds convenient. It's nice to not have to butcher out kills ourselves." She had become very proficient at it, but it remained a bloody, unpleasant job.

Wearing a small grimace, Shiroe shook his head. "Ah, it's not really."

"Because…?"

"In other loops, an experienced hunter can gain more meat and useful parts by doing the work by hand. Also, this makes the subspace pocket and inventory a little," he pressed his thumb and forefinger together lightly, "too similar to be automatically differentiated."

Akatsuki shivered as a chill traveled up her spine despite the warm sunlight shining into the clearing. Flatly, she said, "That means that we might drop items from our subspace pocket if we get killed, doesn't it."

Shiroe nodded.

"There's no way to prevent it?" Akatsuki persisted in asking.

"There is," Shiroe responded to her relief, "but," and the relief vanished, "it takes some mental gymnastics and you can never be sure if you are doing them correctly until you die and nothing drops."

She cursed. "In other words, don't get killed?"

"Don't get killed," he agreed.

* * *

"Good job," Shiroe said mildly as they walked through the guild center, "but did you have to do that?"

Akatsuki - after looking about herself to make sure Henrietta was not in the area - radiated innocent ignorance. "I have no idea what you mean, my lord. My attempt at separating my subspace pocket from my inventory clearly failed."

"And so what you dropped was..?"

"Life deciding to give the bastards what they deserved," she replied without pity, standing straight with her hands clasped behind her back. The PKers had been targeting some kids barely older than Touya and Minori.

"Hm." Shiroe held back a laugh. "That does explain the volatile explosive," he acknowledged.

"Did they drop anything decent?" Akatsuki inquired as if discussing nothing of consequence.

PKers rarely had decent equipment. Artifact-class items could not be removed from the possession of their first user; Phantasmal-class drops automatically tied themselves to their finder. With PKing able to steal Production-class equipment at best, many had derided PKers as useless parasites even before the Catastrophe.

Though her 'killers' had reached level 90, Akatsuki did not expect they had anything that would have impressed her even in the baseline.

"Actually, they did." Shiroe gave a small, smug smile.

At her raised eyebrows, he explained, "Nothing we could use, but I found a group of kids nearby who appreciated them."

* * *

2.6

* * *

Shiroe Awoke in a mansion of some sort, holding an elegant silver tray with a bowl of soup upon it. A sickly teenaged girl rested in a bed before hand.

He checked to see if he could open his menu screen. It did not appear. However, he could still feel his powers, as he could if he were still on Earth.

A fused loop was the most likely explanation.

The girl looked at him with open concern. "Klahadore? Are you all right?"

Shiroe blinked and drug up his in-loop memories. He was Klahadore, a butler to a young orphan named Kaya. But Klahadore was actually an evil, cruel, and murderous pirate captain named Kuro who was trying to steal Kaya's fortune.

Shiroe wasn't interested in following through at all.

He carefully set the tray down. With a slight bow, he said, "I have something to admit to you, Miss Kaya."

The head of Usopp, the village idiot, popped up in the window. The boy wielded a slingshot. "Kaya! You have to get away from him! He's a pirate!" Usopp exclaimed, shooting a smoke bomb at Shiroe. As he fired, Shiroe thought Usopp said, "Shit, he's not-"

Shiroe reflexively countered with a Pulse Bullet spell, striking the smoke bomb with a small orb of magic and knocking it back out the window. Both Kaya and Usopp stared at him with hanging jaws.

Apparently, having strange abilities in this world was a pretty good indication of someone's status as a pirate; Kaya pulled her blankets closer around her in fear. "Klahadore, is it true?"

"Ack, I was wrong!" flailed Usopp. "Sorry, I'd just Awoken, and I mistook you for someone else." He paused. "Er. You aren't a bad guy, are you?"

Shiroe rethought the explanation that he had been about to give. This world seemed to deal well with the ludicrous, from what he could remember. "No, I am not," he replied easily. "Don't worry about it. I understand how confusing Awakening can make the world. I feel as clumsy as an Anchor just about every time."

Kaya shot Shiroe a bewildered look, though Usopp looked relieved. Kaya asked, "Then why do you have Devil Fruit powers?"

Shiroe shook his head. "No, that was magic," he said bluntly.

Kaya's eyes widened. "Really?" she squeaked while Usopp gave him a look of warning.

"Yes," Shiroe confirmed. Then he spun his story. "You see, I am an Enchanter from a world called Theldesia. One day, an unexpected event transported me to this one. I did not want to attract the attention of either pirates or the Marines with my powers, and in the end your father was kind enough to hire me on as a butler."

Usopp relaxed as Shiroe's half-truth skirted any hints of time travel.

"I have finally given up on finding a way home." Shiroe grimaced as he spoke. "I am told I bear an unfortunate resemblance to a supposedly executed pirate captain. Not everyone is convinced he is truly dead, which would explain Usopp's worry on your behalf."

Kaya had released her death grip on her covers. She looked at Usopp gratefully. "Oh, Usopp," she sighed, "that was brave of you." She looked at him sternly. "If he had been a real pirate, you could have gotten hurt!"

"Um, well," Usopp said lamely, blushing and looking down at the ground.

Kaya turned her gaze to Shiroe. "So you aren't a bad person."

Shiroe nodded.

"And… you are really a magician?" she hesitantly asked.

In response, Shiroe materialized a sorcerer's staff in his hand. He performed a courtly bow. "Shirogane Kei Shiroe, at your service," he said, purposefully changing his name to be more in line with the world's standard. "Please, call me Shiroe."

* * *

Later, Shiroe had made his excuses to Kaya and searched for Usopp. The other was waiting for him not far from the mansion.

"You look different," Usopp noted with surprise.

Shiroe nodded. His hair had returned to its usual messy hairstyle and slightly different features. "I took an appearance-changing potion. I don't want to look anything like the man I replaced. I could do without that baggage."

"Can't blame you there." He rubbed his head. "So, I'm Usopp of the One Piece loops. Our Anchor is Luffy. Nice to meet you."

"I am Shiroe, the Anchor of the _Elder Tales_ loops. I'll be in your care." He gave Usopp a friendly nod. "Do you have any advice?"

Usopp crossed his arms. "Never heard of that loop. Huh. You being an Anchor means that ours might not be around. First thing's first, we wait around until your - er, Kuro's - pirate crew shows up and take them out. Afterwards..." Usopp tilted his head as he thought. "I'm not used to Kuro being good. What you should do next… Hey, how about you join _my_ pirate crew?"

Shiroe hadn't expected that. "What."

* * *

Shiroe clung to the mast of the Going Merry as it surged up Reverse Mountain.

Straw hat firmly held to his head, Luffy stood on the prow, guffawing loudly. "Hey, Shiroe!" he called back, "you ready to do it?"

Carefully peeling one arm off the wood, Shiroe gave Luffy a thumbs up.

"Ha, awesome!" Luffy cheered.

Someone else groaned, "Oh, no." It might have been Nami.

With his free hand, Shiroe planted his staff into the deck of the Going Merry. Then he hit the ship with a pre-planned selection of defense spells. For the next few minutes, the ship would not break; the crew would stay safely attached to the deck.

Finally, Shiroe unleashed as many different movement buffs as he knew, and Luffy did _something_ Shiroe couldn't quantify.

The ship broke the sound barrier.

"SONIC MERRY-BOOM!" Luffy roared in exultation as the ship shot into the sky. Most of the others' shouts were considerably less joyous.

Part of Shiroe could not help but think, '_I'm weak against that sort of personality, aren't I?_' The rest of him simply enjoyed the view for the few moments it lasted.

Afterward, one could say his heart felt light: they experienced momentary weightlessness as they plummeted down towards the Grand Line.

* * *

2.7 (Detective Ethan Redfield; inspired by idea by Wyldehorse)

* * *

Hamelin had to go. It was a blighted guild that stained Akiba, and it had to be removed every single loop. Certainly, if he had 5 million gold in his account, he would often buy up the guild building and immediately ban every member of Hamelin from entry. Other times, he'd buy up the cathedral and go assassin's creed on them. Of course, he wouldn't leave them dead. Upon getting the last member of Hamelin, he would allow them access for just long enough to kick them out of town upon resurrection. If they returned, he'd make it permanent...for that loop anyway.

This time he wanted to try something different. Black Knight Isaac sat across a table from the "new" player Shiroe had created just for that loop. He was a Werecat Cleric, with a merchant level of 90. The knight looked at Shiroe and smirked, "Your invitation intrigued me, since you sent me enough EXP pots for every member of my guild. I assume you want a trade agreement?"

Shiroe nodded, "I am aware that you buy EXP pots from the guild Hamelin. I began playing _Elder Tales_ 8 years ago. Since then, I have built up my supply of EXP pots, never having used one and further buying every spare pot I could obtain from every player and now have a sizable stock. I wish to start selling it exclusively to you. Furthermore, I will undercut Hamelin's prices by a sizable margin."

Isaac gave a nasty grin, "Interesting. Tell me then, why would you buy so many EXP pots and never do anything with them?"

Shiroe deadpanned, "I've lived through the Apocalypse once in the form of a time loop, and I knew 8 years ago that the game would evolve into an entire world where EXP pots were rare. I could then sell them at a premium and make a killing."

Isaac barked a laugh, "Well, if you want to keep the reason why, who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth."

Shiroe shrugged, "Ok, here's the truth. Gathering EXP pots was a hobby since I'm a pack rat. I always turned a profit and leveled up my Merchant skills, but was never truly interested in fighting. Also, I bought the pots from other players since...I kinda always thought of it as cheating. It's like taking steroids for a baseball game."

Isaac's eyes narrowed, "So what changed that made you start selling your inventory?"

Shiroe's glasses gleamed for a moment, "Three reasons. First, the Apocalypse made it necessary that the combat guilds grow stronger. But you don't know if the next time you die at the cathedral you will respawn. You'll need all the advantages you can get, and I want to escape this world one day. Who knows if the guardian system will hold up forever."

Black glasses held up two fingers, "Second, I hear rumors about Susukino from some of my friends up there. The guild, Brigandia, is tearing the city apart, destroying stands in the street, breaking bars and inns, and finally PKing players as they attempt to flee the city. I wish protection in case something similar occurs in Akiba."

A third finger rose, "Finally, I know Hamelin is holding new members of _Elder Tales_ in their guild hostage, taking their EXP pots and selling it to your guild and other players. I wish this to end."

Isaac frowned, "How do you plan on doing this?"

Shiroe smirked, "Hamelin takes the players out for raids for crafting materials. I want you to PK their players and protect the new players as they quit their guild. This will cut them off from access to their source."

Isaac scoffed as he rose from his seat, "Why should I care? Hamelin would have a never-ending supply, while you'll eventually run out-"

Shiroe held out five fingers, "I have a stock exceeding 100,000 EXP pots by a large margin. Hamelin has up to 30 new players trapped in their guild hall. Tell me, would you rather have your entire guild able to be levelling up for a year, or only 30? Do the math, 30 EXP pots a day for a year is under 11,000 EXP pots, and I have well over 100,000 right now."

With that logic, Isaac returned to his seat. Shiroe knew he had Isaac's support. Even now, Akatsuki was organizing a similar deal with D.D.D. Hamelin soon collapsed under the weight of two guilds hunting their organization to the ground. Whenever they left the city, they would be PKed on sight. Players that bought supplies from Hamelin were targeted as well by lesser PKers. Soon, no one would buy from them, and they were forced to disband and leave Akiba.

* * *

2.8 (inspired by idea by Wyldehorse)

* * *

Shiroe tapped his quill against the page. His habit of stuffing the contents of his inventory into his subspace pocket had built up an excess of his highest quality ink and paper supplies; not every loop reached a point where a special contract was required. He could make a few stacks of the contract now.

It still wasn't enough to grant Adventurer status to even an entire city, not if he did it on an individual basis.

His countenance brightened as he had an idea. It was untested, but his Looper menu itself proved that such things had malleability.

* * *

The League of Freedom Cities Eastal, the zone in which Akiba was located, was formed of 24 different fiefdoms: city-states with noble families who ruled over the surrounding areas.

The nobles had a few regularly scheduled gatherings at the zone known as the Ancient Palace of Eternal Ice. Currently, they were in the middle of a meeting in regards to incorporating Akiba. Shiroe, Krusty, and Michitaka, as members of the Round Table Council of Akiba, served as the ambassadorial party.

Before the meeting, Shiroe had discussed his plans with the Round Table Council. They had questioned whether such an action was truly possible and whether it was a good idea, but in the end had supported his decision. He had built up goodwill with how he had brought Akiba out of its depression and handled situations such as mob population control.

They were calling him 'the Black-Hearted Hero' this loop. Hearing the epithet embarrassed him somewhat, but his reputation served him well in political situations.

Now, the nobles reacted to the offer he had put before them.

There was disbelief and clamoring chaos. They quieted down when Sergead, the aging Duke of Maihama and current head of the League, stood up. He did not need his mantle or crown to impress his regal nobility upon the room.

"Explain your claim. We must know what you are offering," he told Shiroe.

Shiroe stood in response and bowed slightly. "It is as I said. I possess the power to bestow the status of 'Adventurer' on Landers by contract. It requires such rare ink and paper that I am the only known Scribe with access to such supplies.

"However, because of the nature of the status, Landers can only receive the benefits if they draw on the authority of one who is already an Adventurer. Individual contracts would be effective, but I do not have enough supplies for the entire nobility."

That was a lie, but no one else had to know.

"If I write a new treaty or constitution binding the League to Akiba in friendship, and if the leader of each city agrees to sign it, then I can make every single Lander in Eastal into an Adventurer.

"The benefits are obvious, and the terms are negotiable. The choice is up to you."

* * *

The next loop, Akatsuki was Awake. "I think I'm going to take a break this loop. Can you handle things?" he asked after she finished drinking her potion.

"Certainly." Knowing Shiroe as she did, she had to ask, "What did you do last loop to bring about this exhaustion?"

Shiroe rubbed his neck sheepishly. "I ended up turning Eastal into a constitutional oligarchy and ended up its first prime minister." He laughed awkwardly.

She stared at him, and then moved towards the door. "I am off to Susukino," stated Akatsuki levelly. "Please apply yourself to doing absolutely nothing, or else you may accidentally conquer the world."

* * *

Chapter Notes

* * *

2.1: Shiroe has class. *stupid pun*  
2.2: He deserved that.  
2.3: Take one looping Akatsuki, add canonical character development, and stir.  
2.4: Quest Complete. Relationship (Akatsuki): +1 Closeness. New Base: Susukino.  
2.5: NHK worked hard to reduce violence in the anime. Good job, NHK; now more kids want to buy the novels.  
2.6: One Piece fused loop. Shiroe replaces a villain with glasses who makes intricate long-term plans. That doesn't sound like him at all, right?  
2.7: Not the easiest way to do it, but hurrah for karmic vengeance.  
2.8: The perils of paperwork.


End file.
